Shaulis Kelsey
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Soc Ment Health. 2025 Feb 5. doi: 10.1177/21568693251315167.
Women were the driving force behind the expansion of higher education in the United States. Their rise in enrollment developed alongside a rapid increase in educational expectations. This study explores the question of how these landmark shifts in women's expanded expectations, attainment, and the (mis)alignment of the two have influenced mental health now that these women have entered midlife. Using data from the sophomore cohort of the 1980 High School and Beyond (HS&B:So) study through its 2014 midlife follow-up, results show that for women in the sophomore cohort ( = 2,010), exceeding educational expectations is significantly associated with an increase in experiencing serious mental illness in midlife compared to meeting or missing educational expectations. These results suggest that overachieving educational expectations carry distinct psychological consequences.
女性是美国高等教育扩张背后的驱动力。她们入学率的上升与教育期望的迅速提高同步发展。本研究探讨了这样一个问题：鉴于这些女性已步入中年，她们在期望、成就以及两者（不）匹配方面的这些具有里程碑意义的转变是如何影响心理健康的。利用1980年“高中及以后”（HS&B:So）研究二年级队列的数据，直至其2014年的中年随访，结果显示，对于二年级队列中的女性（n = 2010），与达到或未达到教育期望相比，超过教育期望与中年时患严重精神疾病的几率增加显著相关。这些结果表明，过度实现教育期望会带来独特的心理后果。
